Lo que hice por amor (What I Did for Love) Book

I have officially placed Susan Elizabeth Phillips on my favorite author's pedestal. I love her writing style, her plots are always creative and she works her magic with the development of her characters. SEP also dares to give you supporting characters that could possibly steal the show but instead strengthens the plot and keeps the reader engaged.

Georgie York and Bramwell Shepard really do love to hate each other. Their lives were spinning in the same circle for a while as young TV stars. Bramwell was a reckless, self-absorbed and self-satisfying guy. Georgie was the one that everyone fell in love with, the one that made all the right choices. But she made one decision that involved Bramwell that she was ashamed of and something she would struggle to let go of.

Bramwell ~ could be a real prick, a trait that followed him from his younger days when he put Georgie's heart through the ringer. But he was a prick that I quickly fell in love with. He was super sexy and slowly but surely his sweetness surfaced.



Georgie ~ she was rather sassy and a bit feisty. She was always the good girl, the one that never rocked the boat. But life has changed her. She has come to be a flirtatious and passionate woman living her life satisfying her needs instead of everyone else.



Following different paths within their movie careers, Georgie and Bram live their lives without having to spend any time together. But being a star and living in Hollywood isn't as easy as it appears.



When Georgie's life is in a little bit of a downward spiral she decides to escape for a few months. Her escape begins with a trip to Las Vegas only to have it end with her married to Bram. Once she gets past the utter shock of it she immediately goes into damage control mode. They'd remain married putting on the show of their lives.



The plan was supposed to be simple. Both Georgie and Bram had the "script" they would go by while remaining married but their outside worlds started to leak through the cracks that were in their plan. They each had their own intentions and their own goals. But things started to change. Georgie was seeing things in Bram that weren't there before and Bram didn't know what the hell to do with this sexy and desirable woman. They both struggled with this unexpected place they were finding themselves in. Was it love or was it lust? What side would they land on?



What I Did for Love was such a wonderful read. SEP has the knack for adding in fantastic supporting characters. In this one I loved Chaz and Aaron. Chaz was Bram's housekeeper who was always a bit grumpy and lacked a sense of humor. She was paired with Georgie's PA Aaron who lacked the typical hot guy persona. These two were very different yet so perfect for each other. They went on a bit of a journey themselves and I really enjoyed it. Then we have Paul and Laura who offered up that side romance that rounded out the story perfectly.

Oh and the Epilogue was perfect. ❤

This was discussed earlier in Celeste's review, but I think it is fair to say that What I Did for Love is the author's commentary on Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. In fact, it was extremely difficult for me to picture anyone but Jennifer Aniston and Brangelina while reading this book.

The similarities are obvious ... Lance's (Brad Pitt's) interest in architecture. The fact that he leaves his wife while filming a movie with St. Jade (Jolie), a do-gooder that travels worldwide to help the less fortunate and who has no qualms about stealing another woman's husband. Even the physical description of Jade fits Jolie - tattoos, pouty lips and all. And then there is Georgie (Aniston) who became "America's Sweetheart" on a popular sitcom where she was forced to sign a contract NOT to cut her hair or change her hairstyle. Now she is filming a series of bad romantic comedies.

Sound familiar?

While Georgie is trying to create a public image that she is over Lance and her disastrous marriage, she has the misfortune of running into Bram Shephard (John Mayer?). As a teenager/young adult, Bram co-starred on Georgie's sitcom for several years. There is bad blood between them because Bram was a playboy, a jerk and downright cruel to Georgie. In fact, a sex tape was released of Bram that ultimately ended up being the reason for cancelling Georgie's sitcom.

Bram and Georgie somehow end up in Las Vegas together. End up at a party together. Get drunk. Get married. And when the paparrazi find out and start hounding them for a statement the next morning, Georgie and Bram decided it would boost both of their careers if they stayed married for one year.

I am disappointed to say that I had a very hard time forcing myself to finish this book. I didn't find myself invested in the characters or really caring what happened to them. There were a few scenes that kept my interest - Georgie and Bram visiting a posh erotic boutique with peepholes in the dressing rooms was HOT!

SEP is an auto-buy for me. I love her writing style and enjoy her sassy sense of humor. She is the queen of metaphors. For instance ... "grape lollipop eyes" ... "gumdrop green eyes" ... "caramel brown eyes that slid over her like hot fudge on a sundae" ... all of these are from previous SEP books that I really enjoyed. But in this book ... well ... surfers bobbing on the ocean waters like fetuses in amniotic fluid was just too much for me.

I think I need to go back and re-read Match Me If You Can or This Heart of Mine to remind myself why I love SEP's books.